The Limits of Heckling

Earlier today as I was doing my daily browsing of sports website, I came across a pretty entertaining piece on Yahoo! Sports. The subject? JJ Redick. The story? North Carolina fans heckling him even though he's been in the NBA for four years now. This was music to my ears because as anyone who's read this blog can tell you, I hate Duke. Since Mr. Redick was the face of the Blue Devils for four years earlier this decade, I cannot help but spite him. However, I couldn't help myself but feel sorry for the guy. He was saying how in college, aside from all the cursing that has been thrown his way, people started calling out his family.

I'm sorry, but you cannot start yelling stuff about a player's family unless it is relavent. When is it relavent? When their sibling played the sport. For example, UCLA fans chanting "Josh is better" at Jarren Shipp or Cal fans yelling "Joe is better" at Josh Shipp. If a player's family has nothing to do with the sport, don't involve them. Furthermore, if people make reference to a family member's sexual orientation, race, marital status, or whatever it may be, is a clear no no. Along those lines, making sexual references at a 12 year old sister? Really? Come on guys. It's ok to poke fun at the friend with the hot friend, but if she's not old enough to drive, you shouldn't even joke about it. That is what disturbed me by watching Redick's video. I mean, having people tell you to "F off" is one thing, but talking about sex with your 12 year old sister? That's just really sick. At that point the fun and games end and ground control really is needed. Actually, control is needed probably once family member references/names are mentioned.

Adidas Schools

This is a post I have been meaning to write for about a week or two, and UCLA's recent renewal of its deal with Adidas was the final straw. Below is a list from the Big-6 conferences of those teams that are currently in partnership with Adidas as its main sporting supplier.

ACC:
NC State

Big 10:
Michigan
Indiana
Wisconsin
Northwestern

Big 12:
Kansas
Nebraska
Baylor
Texas A&M

Big East:
Louisville
Notre Dame
Cincinnati
Seton Hall

Pac-10:
UCLA

SEC:
Tennessee
Arkansas
Mississippi State

As you can tell, some conferences have very weak representation with Adidas (ACC & Pac-10) while others such as the Big 10, 12, and Big East have a fairly strong representation. It seems like Adidas does well in the Northeast and Midwest regions of the country, as well as a pretty good job in the South and Plains. Clearly though, it needs to ensure it uses its lone school in the West properly, because losing it somewhere down the line would be devastating to it. Lets hope the people at Adidas realize that.

Of Course I was Wrong...

As the West Virginia game against Duke was approaching the painful end for everyone who doesn't go to the school in Durham, I realized that my bracket will officially go up in flames. What's worse is that I knew that once the final buzzer sounds my mom will have a better bracket than I do, and that's plain embarrassing. Then the game ended, and my mother promptly called me to make fun of me. Being the good son and great sport that I am, I hung up on her right away. I couldn't help but bare the thought that not only did I lose to my mom, who's main source of college sports knowledge comes from Regis Philbin, but that Duke has a chance to win its 4th National Championship. It is well documented how no one likes Duke because of they feel like they are entitled to everything, even though they have a worse history than rival North Carolina. Could you imagine if they actually won the whole thing and were the defending champs? Preppy kids with popped collars of pastel colored polos will rejoice in what may be the most white-washed celebration in college basketball history since Kentucky's racist teams won in the 1950's.
Speaking of white-washed events, this Monday's final as my friend pointed out to me, would be the most vanilla final in recent history. Duke usually plays 3-4 white guys on the court at all times. Butler does its best to counter with playing around 2-3 white guys, depending on Matt Howard's foul situation. The only way it could get whiter is if Stanford or any Ivey League school was facing off against Duke. No matter how diverse (or not) the game in Indy will be, one thing is for sure. It'll be the world against Duke, and everyone knows that as its probably been reiterated on every sports media outlet. As much as I would love to see Coach K and his band of whitiest come out on the losing end, I think that they are too experienced and talented to crumble under the ferocious Bulldog defense. Then again, let's hope that I am wrong again, just one last time.

The Final Four, F $C!

Although U$C is not playing in this year's final four, and in fact they haven't played in one in over fifty years, the title is still fitting. Somewhere out there a Trojan semi-pro team is playing, so no reason not to wish them defeat. Trojan bashing aside, it is time to bash on the teams and players playing in this year's F4. To be perfectly honest, I really do not want to bash on too many teams nor their players because I do not have beef with them. Unless of course you play for the "other" prestigious school that dons four letters on its jerseys. I have made the point countless of times about how much I despise the Blue Devils. To be honest, it's not like I have anything against their players. In fact, I would have loved to see Singler and Scheyer don Adidas True Blue and wear a superior set of four letters (guess what does are?). My problem with the Dukies is their smugness and general belief that they are the best in life. I will outline a few points that should once and for all rid Dukies and Dick Vitale of their excessive pride.

1. The Yankees of college basketball. They only have three NC's and rank behind numerous other schools on the all time list. This makes them like the Phillies of college basketball. Except no one likes them.

2. Coach K is the greatest thing since bread came sliced. Again, no. He is a HoFer and all, but no way is he the greatest coach to coach student-athletes. His 11 Final Fours match the titles John Wooden won at UCLA. Also, Tom Izzo will probably catch up to him at some point. He has 6 in 12 years. Coach K has 11 in 30+ years.

3. Most hardcore fans. Well, they have awesome fans. But Cameron Indoor is smaller in capacity than the Galen Center so of course when you have a good team there'll be high demand. Add to that the small amount of resources (seats) and you basically only show the most hardcore of fans. I would say they are not as great as Kentucky, UNC, and Kansas fans who have arenas much larger that always sell out.

4. Everyone loves us that's why we are always on TV. Dukies, you are on TV because the ACC has an amazing TV contract. Since the ACC with the exception of UNC (and Maryland sometimes) is fairly average of course you are going to be on TV a lot. You know who else is on TV a lot? UNC and Maryland. Not to mention the entire Big East and Big-12. Actually, everyone is on ESPN all the time except the Pac-10. Still feeling special?

With those four reasons for Duke's Final Four appearance I will make a prediction on the outcomes of the national semis. Don't be surprised if I am completely wrong, but feel free to congratulate me when I am right (which probably won't happen):

Michigan State 65, Butler 59.
West Virginia 75, Duke 65.

Only if it Happened on April Fool's

UCLA and Pac-10 fans alike got treated a couple days ago when two basketball coaching vacancies were filled. One was hyped for a few days while the other was pretty much news when it happened. One was of a slimy lazy coach, while the other was of a crazy and off-court slimy coach. One involved a former UCLA coach and the other a Southern Cal coach. So what does this have to do with April Fool's? Well, had those two coaching vacancies been filled today rather than on Tuesday, no one would have believed either one.
Any sensible basketball fan knows how Steve Lavin is a lazy bum who lucked out by inheriting a talented team, used that to recruit more good players, but only made it to the Elite-8 once. He is the guy that Baron Davis referred to when saying his UCLA teams deserved a banner in Pauley for having made the tournament despite not having a coach. Tim Floyd on the other hand, has gotten good performance out of his teams at times when no one would have expected them to perform well, but this was partially because he had ineligible player(s) and allegedly paid lots of cash to a handler of O.J Payo to get him to come to South Central. So when UTEP hired him, people were kind of shocked. Who wouldn't? The guy's reputation is down the toilet and rightfully so. To be fair though, he was only out of coaching for this past season. Lav has been out of coaching since he got fired from UCLA in 2003. So when St. John's hired him, it was kind of surprising (along with what I already wrote about). The good thing for UCLA fans is that they signed a home-home series with the Johnnies beginning next year. Personally, I hope next year's game is in NYC because I will probably be there for graduate school and would love to rock my UCLA gear at a game.

The Legend of Tom Izzo

More often than not, I have been a total homer when it comes to discussing college basketball. On numerous ocassions I have discussed how much national championships are the most valuable thing you can measure a coach and/or a program by. However, in this post I will concede that such tough criteria is somewhat unfair. Why? Because some coaches just cannot be measured simply by looking at how many titles they have. Michigan State's coach Tom Izzo has "only" one national title since he took over the helm in East Lansing. With yesterday's thrilling win over Tennessee, he and his team have a chance to double up their amount of titles. Not impressed yet? Consider this fun fact: every upperclassman in Izzo's program has been to a final four. What is even more absurd is that he now has SIX appearances in the last twelve seasons. Not many coaches, let alone elite programs, can claim to have been to as many final fours as Coach Izzo has. Georgetown and Illinois? Five. Arizona and Syracuse? A mere four. All of those have been around for decades. Tom Izzo? For only a decade and a half.

The most impressive thing though about Tom Izzo's success is how he did it without dominating NBA prospects on a regular basis. The most talented team he has was the one who won the title in 2000, and a couple of those players are still in the NBA in Jason Richardson and Morris Peterson. The Spartans have been to multiple F4's since, yet barely have any players currently employed by NBA teams. I would find it hard to believe any top notch school can claim the same. Izzo clearly has done more with less than anyone else but has barely received any recognition about it. Sure, professional analysts who follow college basketball might give him praise but not as much as they would someone like Jim Boeheim (1 NC, 3 F4's) or Lute Olsen (1 NC, 4 F4's) and those coaches were coaches for over 30 years.

Brittney Griner is a Beast

For those of you who were not bored enough to watch the NCAA Women's Basketball tournament this morning, you missed out. It was a great block party. Seriously, it was. It was the first time all year I watched more than five minutes of a women's game that did not involve UCLA or Stanford and I was not too disappointed. Baylor trots 6'8" freshman sensation (and amateur boxer) Brittney Griner. Yes, she has the height of a guy who could play D-I men's basketball at center. This basically never happens. Usually women centers hover around 6'3" (give or take), so there is an inherent advantage for the Baylor freshman. Today against #1 seed Tennessee it was no exception. She did not have any mercy on the Lady Vols as she tallied 27 points and a cool 10 blocks. Oh by the way, that is no fluke for Ms. Griner. In the second round game against Georgetown, she had a smooth 14 blocks. Those numbers are plain ridiculous and should not be taken lightly. When was the last time we saw a center in the men's game that had such a height advantage with such dominance? Long ago. Ok ok, enough about the blocks! You know those 27 points I mentioned that she poured on Pat Summitt's crew? Eleven of them came from the stripe. In thirteen attempts. Coach Howland, can we get her to transfer and play for us? She has a better looking shot then any of our players, seriously.

Kentucky and Kansas Winningest Ever? Really?

Recently I heard about how Kentucky and Kansas are have the most wins out of any school in D-I history. Obviously, no one can argue with that fact. I even blogged about it. Nonetheless, hailing either one of those as the most prestigious would be ridiculous and shameful. Kentucky with all its winning, has only made 13 F4's while Kansas has the same amount. That ranks fourth behind UCLA, UNC, and Duke. And to put the final nail in the coffin, we all know that unless you win a championship, you are not the best. You can be one of the best, but not the very best. I mean, winning 35 games in a season doesn't bode as well when a team who wins say 33 beats you and takes the championship from you. In light of that factor, I have decided to do some very simple math. So simple even the Trojans might be able to follow (well, maybe). Kansas has 3 NC while Kentucky has 7. Add both of those up and you get 10. That'd be one less than what UCLA has. Sure, UCLA might have a couple hundred less wins than either of the previously mentioned schools, but at the end of the day, it has found a way to come up on top. To put it simply: